Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine says a donation by Qatar to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was U.S. secretary of state was ''not materially different than before'' she took up the position. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

▲ Hide Transcript

▶ View Transcript

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine said on Sunday (November 6) that a donation by Qatar to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was U.S. secretary of state was "not materially different than before" she took up the position, therefore abiding a memorandum of understanding agreed to by Clinton and the State Department.
"The government of Qatar had been a donor to the foundation before she became secretary of state. This wasn't a change in their position," Kaine told CBS News on "Face the Nation."
Kaine's defense came two days after the Clinton Foundation confirmed it accepted a $1 million gift from Qatar while Clinton was U.S. secretary of state without informing the State Department, even though she had promised to let the agency review new or significantly increased support from foreign governments.
Qatari officials pledged the money in 2011 to mark the 65th birthday of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton's husband, and sought to meet the former U.S. president in person the following year to present him the check, according to an email from a foundation official to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign chairman, John Podesta. The email, among thousands hacked from Podesta's account, was published last month by WikiLeaks.
Clinton signed an ethics agreement governing her family's globe-straddling foundation in order to become secretary of state in 2009. The agreement was designed to increase transparency to avoid appearances that U.S. foreign policy could be swayed by wealthy donors.

Reuters is the news and media division of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products: